Second Time Around
by Kohaku Minamoto
Summary: AU. Yusuke and Keiko, childhood friends torn apart by war. Set in the year 3036, when demons dominate humans, this is a story of music, memory, bittersweet love, and the strength to break tradition. YusKei
1. Hips Don't Lie

I had this idea _before_ Champion, but I wrote Champion first. Another Yusuke/Keiko story, hope you all like. Not for kiddies under the age of thirteen! Rated for swearing and some adult content.

**DISCLAIMER**: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Shakira's song, 'Hips Don't Lie'.

* * *

**Chapter 1. Hips Don't Lie **

_In the year 3036… _

Keiko Yukimura glanced up at the clock. "Ladies, it's time to move it," a loudspeaker on the wall crackled. Keiko recognized it as the voice of Koenma, the former Prince of Spirit World who was now the unwilling manager of the twenty or so dancers that worked in the pub. "Five minutes, hustle up."

Keiko sighed loudly, taking her place in line with the other dancers without thinking much about it. After over a hundred years of servicing as a pleasure object for demons, she fell into line completely out of habit, her body moving without her actual awareness.

You might wonder why she's been alive for over a century. Well, good dancers are the ones who are given the Potion of Immortality, so that they may serve their demon masters for the rest of eternity. Keiko, being advanced in the way of seductive dancing, had drunk the Potion of Immortality more times than she could count. But eternal life, at least on earth, wasn't as much fun as it seemed.

Especially since the demons had taken over the Human World, sending all human males into the mines (or to the meat grinders, if they were fat) and all the females into prostitution. Keiko was thankful for the fact that because she was a good dancer and therefore expensive, she hadn't been used as much as the lower whores.

A hissing sound from the girl behind her caught her attention. It was Botan, known on stage as the Blue Peony. The girl had been a Spirit Guide until the demons had attacked Spirit World as well, sending King Yama into hiding and taking the hundreds of Spirit Guides hostage along with the Prince of Spirit World.

"What do you think's out there tonight?" she asked quietly.

"Dunno," Keiko said promptly, swiping a worn tube of red lipstick over her lips. "Probably just the usual crowd."

"Nope." Shizuru Kuwabara, one of the new girls (with the stage name Roku, or Six, on account of her powerful sixth sense) turned back to talk to Keiko. "I heard that there's a couple demon lords out there tonight."

Shizuru's words sent a wave of whispering down the line. Keiko leaned forward so that she could speak right into the older girl's ear. "Where'd you hear that?"

"My little bro is a servant in one of the lords' households," Shizuru replied, lighting a cigarette. "He came by today to visit."

Being a servant was rare, and Keiko sighed wistfully. "Your brother's so lucky…"

"Not lucky enough for me to buy my way out of this dump," Shizuru returned dryly, then walked out on stage to begin her routine.

**_Ladies up in here tonight  
No fighting, no fighting  
We got the refugees up in here  
No fighting, no fighting_**  
**_Shakira, Shakira  
_**

Yusuke Urameshi, son of the recently deceased demon lord Raizen, set his glass of wine on the table and groaned. "When's this gonna be over?" he complained to a redheaded lord beside him, who chuckled.

"I believe, Yusuke, that you were the one who suggested that we come here," Kurama said in amused tones. The young man, who had been assumed to be completely human, had revealed during the demon take-over that he was Yoko Kurama, the famous Spirit Fox thief and missing right-hand man to the blind lord, Yomi. This revelation had placed him on almost the same level as Yusuke, who he had met not long after coming to Demon World.

"Yes, so don't complain," a snide voice contributed from Kurama's other side. The Jaganshi Hiei, Lady Mukuro's second-in-command and her supposed heir, crossed his arms.

"But this is _stupid_," Yusuke whined in very unlordly tones. "There's only dancers. I mean, they're pretty and all, but…hey, is that Kuwabara's sister?"

"You mean the Kuwabara that serves as your weapons master?" Hiei demanded.

"Yeah, the one who keeps looking at your sister like a lovestruck puppy," Yusuke countered, making Hiei's narrow shoulders stiffen. "Oops, sorry. Sore topic, huh?" He laughed to himself. Even though Yusuke was a demon lord, he didn't have much of a problem with Kuwabara, who he enjoyed sparring with from time to time. You could almost say that they were 'friends', though Kuwabara hated demons because they wouldn't give his sister back to him.

Shizuru finished her routine, bowed jerkily, and walked off stage. A few more dancers came on stage, but none of them caught Yusuke's attention. The young Toushin yawned. "So, Kurama, how's your mom doing?" he asked, idly.

Kurama's mother had been shipped off to the hospital to work as a nurse for wounded demons, but with his newfound political power, he'd managed to pull a few strings and get her to a safer place (though he wouldn't tell anyone where). "She's fine," Kurama said, a smile spreading over his face at the gentle woman who had brought him up. "Apparently she's found one of her old friends where she is."

Yusuke's answer was drowned out by the loudspeaker.

"_Next is Love Child, veteran dancer and one of the favorites in this bar. Please welcome her._"

A brown-haired young woman with long legs stepped onto the stage, wearing a short white vest and a pair of dark red pants belted with a thick silver belt. As the music started, she began dancing, and Yusuke's eyes were drawn to her face.

She looked somehow…familiar, but he couldn't place it. _Who is that?_ he wondered. After being around for over a century, he'd lost track of the people who came and went, both from his receiving chambers and from his bedroom. He leaned towards Kurama. "Do I know her?"

Kurama shook his head. "She _is_ a good dancer, though."

**_I never really knew that she could dance like this  
She makes a man want to speak Spanish  
Como se llama, bonita, mi casa, su casa  
Shakira, Shakira  
_**

Keiko's trick for when she was dancing, scantily clad, in front of a crowd of lustful demons was to pretend that she was somewhere else. She had learned it from the other girls, who had their own 'happy places'.

Botan's was the Spirit World skies, where she could soar free as a bird. Shizuru's, surprisingly enough, was home with her 'baby bro' and his cat, Eikichi (Keiko had found this out when Shizuru got drunk). Keiko's was a memory of the last day she and her childhood friend had spent together.

It was already foggy in her mind, but it was a pleasant memory, full of sunshine, childish laughter, and splashing water. A day at a pool in…where was it again? Japan. As Keiko spun around, she remembered her friend. It had been a boy, with black hair and brown eyes. Of course, those were characteristics that nearly all normal Japanese children had, but the boy's personality was something to be remembered: rough on the outside, but unexpectedly sweet deep down inside.

**_Oh baby when you talk like that  
You make a woman go mad  
So be wise and keep on  
Reading the signs of my body_**

Then the next day, they'd been separated when the demons attacked. Some sort of demon with a bald head had scooped her friendup and run off with him, leaving Keiko to scream after him. The screaming was what she had regretted for the rest of her life. Another demon, a slaver, grabbed her and knocked her unconscious.

Keiko shook her head inwardly, trying to clear her head. _No,_ she told herself firmly. _I don't want to remember that._

**_And I'm on tonight  
You know my hips don't lie  
And I'm starting to feel it's right  
All the attraction, the tension  
Don't you see baby, this is perfection _**

The demon lord watching her from one of the tables in the back seemed vaguely familiar – Keiko wasn't sure why. Unlike many other demon lords, who wore their hair long, this lord's hair was short, slicked back like a human delinquent's.

He reminds me…Keiko thought, keeping her eyes on the demon even as she bent over backwards in a back bend. He reminds me…of…

But the name still wouldn't come to her.

**_Hey girl, I can see your body moving  
And it's driving me crazy  
And I didn't have the slightest idea  
Until I saw you dancing_**

"She's looking at you, Yusuke," Kurama said teasingly to his friend. Yusuke shoved the fox playfully.

"Shaddup."

"Hmph," Hiei grumped, his annoyance not one bit diluted by the amount of wine he had drunk. "Idiots."

"Just because you're so scary that you scare off any girl that you meet doesn't mean we all are," Yusuke retorted, watching the girl flip over from the back bend in one fluid motion. "What kind of a stage name is Love Child, anyway?"

"Stage names are always interesting," Kurama said thoughtfully. "There was the girl named Roku, who, seeing as she didn't have six fingers or toes, is probably named for her sixth sense. The girl up there is probably actually a love child, or derived her stage name from her own given name."

"That would make her name Aiko, wouldn't it? I mean, 'ai' means love and 'ko' means little or child, in Japanese at least."

"It could be, but not necessarily."

**_And when you walk up on the dance floor  
Nobody can ignore  
The way you move your body, girl  
And everything so unexpected  
The way you right and left it  
So you can keep on taking it_**

Keiko, meanwhile, was having an internal battle with herself.

_Why does he look so familiar? Why can't I remember who he reminds me of?_

_He reminds you of your friend_, a snide voice said in her head as Keiko finished her dance and walked off stage to allow Botan to step up.

No. He was taken. Taken to be a slave, most likely. He's probably dead by now. A pang shot through Keiko's pounding heart, drowned out only by the sound of Koenma's voice announcing 'Blue Peony'.

**_I never really knew that she could dance like this  
She makes a man want to speak Spanish  
Como se llama, bonita, mi casa, su casa  
Shakira, Shakira_**

She was stopped by Koenma himself when she arrived back at her dressing room. "Keiko," the dancer's friend and manager began, "there's someone that wants to see you."

"Now?" But she was hot and sweaty from her dancing, not to mention the frazzled nerves that she'd gotten from seeing that strangely familiar demon lord.

"No, not now." Koenma smiled, but it was a sad smile. "Later. Tonight, at midnight. Meet me at the front doors and I'll take you there.

"Oh, okay." Keiko bit her lip. "Koenma, is there something wrong?"

"What? Oh, no, there's nothing – "

"Is it…is it Ayame?"

**_Oh baby when you talk like that  
You make a woman go mad  
So be wise and keep on  
Reading the signs of my body_**

She watched Koenma's face contort and knew she was right. Ayame, one of the Spirit Guides and Koenma's true love (as he had told Botan, one of his best friends), was a dancer in another club. It was no secret among the girls that Koenma still, for lack of a better word, pined for the girl, who was now known as the graceful, demure dancer 'Purple Iris'.

"I miss her, Keiko. I don't have enough money to buy our freedom," Koenma whispered, his voice filled with pain and longing. He had only taken on the job as manager so that he could earn money, bit by bit, to buy both his freedom and Ayame's."And I never even got to tell her that I loved her."

He looked like he was about to cry, so Keiko gave him a friendly hug in an attempt to cheer him up. "Come on, Koenma," she said soothingly, rubbing his back. "It'll be okay. You'll find Ayame someday, and when you do, tell her that you love her. And Botan and Shizuru and I will beat up anyone that tries to stop you."

It wasn't a very good consolation, but it made Koenma give a watery smile. "Thanks, Keiko. You're a good friend."

**_And I'm on tonight  
You know my hips don't lie  
And I am starting to feel you boy  
Come on let's go, real slow  
Don't you see baby asi es perfecto_**

Keiko didn't want to visit whatever demon wanted her body tonight. It was probably a demon lord, considering how expensive one visit with Keiko was.

_I hope it's him_, Keiko thought wistfully, then quashed the thought. She hadn't even spoken to that familiar-looking lord; why would she want to meet him?

"Koenma," she said, to distract herself. "Did the demon give you his name?"

"No," Koenma answered.

Keiko groaned inwardly. "Koenma, I'm gonna go take a nap. Wake me up when the time comes, okay?"

Koenma smiled understandingly. "All right, Keiko. Sweet dreams."

Keiko's dreams were anything but sweet. She kept dreaming about playing with her childhood friend in the pool. Her childhood friend suddenly changed into the demon lord, and Keiko found herself completely naked.

_You're mine_, the demon lord said lustfully, his lips parting to reveal bloodstained teeth.

Then he leapt upon her, ripping into her in more ways than one.

Keiko screamed.

**_Oh I know I am on tonight my hips don't lie  
And I'm starting to feel it's right  
All the attraction, the tension  
Don't you see baby, this is perfection  
Shakira, Shakira_**

"So, did you actually remember to get me a birthday present?" Yusuke asked casually. Kurama laughed.

"Do you even know how old you are now?"

"A century and…" Yusuke counted on his fingers. "I can't remember."

"Just say you're twenty," Hiei growled, returning from wherever he had disappeared to. "That's how old you look in human terms, anyway, and you're part human. And have all the maturity of a human five-year-old," he added, muttering the last part under his breath.

"I heard that. And I bet you forgot all about my birthday," Yusuke complained, but not really caring.

"I didn't forget. What day is it?"

"See! You already forgot! It's tomorrow."

"Perfect," Hiei said, grinning evilly and displaying one slender, pointed fang. "I got you your present. It should be arriving at your room at midnight, and I think you'll like it."

Kurama raised an eyebrow. "Since when have you given anyone besides Y – I mean your sister, presents?"

Hiei scowled at the slip. "I do it occasionally," he said shiftily.

Yusuke wasn't listening to the conversation any more, but Kurama had a sneaking suspicion that Hiei had gotten Yusuke a present only because there was something in it for the shorter demon.

**_Oh boy, I can see your body moving  
Half animal, half man  
I don't, don't really know what I'm doing  
But you see to have a plan  
My will and self restraint  
Have come to fail now, fail now  
See, I am doing what I can, but I can't so  
You know  
That's a bit too hard to explain_**

"Keiko? Keeeeeiiiiiko. It's time to get up."

Keiko's eyes flashed open immediately. "Gimme a sec, Koenma," she called. "I need to get dressed."

"Five minutes."

Keiko sifted through her wardrobe, picking out a black tank top and a pair of jeans. There was no point in dressing fancy if her clothes were just going to be taken off again…

The dancer swallowed hard and shoved the thought out of her mind. _Shut up_, she told her brain, and walked out of her room.

**_Baila en la calle de noche  
Baila en la calle de dia  
Baila en la calle de noche  
Baila en la calle de dia_**

Yusuke was surprised when there was a knock on his door at midnight, penetrating the light fog that alcohol had left in his mind. "Come in."

The door opened and someone stepped inside. It was the dancer from before. Love Child.

Yusuke felt confused. "Why are you here?"

Keiko paused. "What do you mean? Didn't you send for me?"

Hiei's cryptic words suddenly came to mind. _"I got you your present. It should be arriving at your room at midnight, and I think you'll like it."_

"That son of a bitch," Yusuke mumbled. Keiko was surprised.

"D-Did I come to the wrong room?"

"No," Yusuke said, stopping his swearing. "I guess my friend told you to come here."

Keiko groaned inwardly for the umpteenth time that night. When demons wanted to give presents, they gave one of three things: slaves, raw human meat, or women. I'm probably going to be dead by the next morning, she thought with a trace of panic. But she couldn't run – though the demon lord looked surprisingly human, he felt powerful enough that he could kill Keiko with one wave of his hand.

"Oh well," Yusuke sighed. "Might as well not waste Hiei's money. You wanna sit down?"

**_I never really knew that she could dance like this  
She makes a man want to speak Spanish  
Como se llama, bonita, mi casa, su casa  
Shakira, Shakira_**

Keiko was surprised, once again (it was happening a lot tonight). When demons called girls to their rooms, they never even asked them whether they wanted to be on top or on the bottom, let alone whether they wanted to sit down. "Uh…sure," she replied hesitantly. Yusuke sat up fully on his bed, and Keiko noticed – with some embarrassment at herself – that his bare torso was tanned and very nicely toned. She shoved the thought out of her mind, taking the seat that Yusuke waved at.

"So…what's your name? I mean your real name, not your stage name."

He was treating her like an equal! "Why do you want to know?"

Yusuke shrugged. "I don't usually ask girls' names, but you look familiar. So what's your name?"

**_Oh baby when you talk like that  
You know you got me hypnotized  
So be wise and keep on  
Reading the signs of my body_**

"…Keiko."

One eyebrow raised. "Keiko? Thought it was Aiko."

Keiko laughed a little and shifted slightly. "A lot of people seem to think that," she said dryly. "Because I took the name 'Love Child'."

"Is it because you actually are a love child?"

"No. 'Kei' means beloved, and 'ko' means little or child. 'Little Beloved' or 'Beloved Child' didn't sound much like a dancer's name, so I just made my stage name Love Child." Keiko felt vaguely stupid. "I hope I'm not boring you, my lord."

"You aren't."

**_Señorita, feel the conga, let me see you  
Move like you come from Colombia_**

"Yusuke."

"What?" Keiko wasn't sure if she heard right.

"Call me Yusuke. I don't like it when people call me 'my lord' or 'my liege' or 'your superior demon entity, sir'. It makes me feel old. Raizen was 'my lord', not me."

The name 'Raizen' sent a bolt of lightning through Keiko's mind. "Y-you're Raizen's heir?" Though dancers didn't know much about the outside world, having no newspaper delivery or television of any sort, everyone knew about Raizen. He had been the only demon to protest taking over the Human World, and when the humans had been captured and enslaved, Raizen had gone on a sort of hunger strike and starved to death.

**_Mira en Barranquilla se baila asi, say it!  
Mira en Barranquilla se baila asi_**

"Uh, yeah. Raizen was my old man." Yusuke scratched his head. His hair, which had been gelled back before, now hung loosely and naturally, making him look younger and even more innocently human than before.

"Wow. I'm impressed," Keiko said simply. "Do…do you eat human meat?"

"No. I tried it once and couldn't get it down."

Not many demons would admit that, Keiko noted. "Why not? Don't all demons eat human meat?"

"Not all. Me and my friend Kurama, we don't eat human meat 'cause we lived with humans our entire lives."

_My friend did too…_Keiko shoved the thought from her mind. Her friend was dead. He couldn't have become a demon lord if he had been so unceremoniously snatched up. That bald-headed demon that had grabbed him looked like he could eat five human children for dinner and still have room for dessert!

"Is the Kurama you're talking about the one who was Yomi's right-hand man?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Then there's Yukina, who won't touch any meat of any kind because she hates seeing living beingsin pain, and Hiei, who won't eat meat in his sister's presence because it bothers her and because he doesn't care much for human meat anyway…" Yusuke stopped, slapping a hand over his mouth. "Oops. I wasn't supposed to tell you that."

"That Hiei and Yukina are siblings?"

"Uh, yeah. That."

"I won't tell."

"Really?" Yusuke felt relieved. "Thanks. Even though Hiei's my friend, if this got out to the local gossip line I'd be dead meat, whether Yukina liked it or not."

The joke made Keiko laugh, as disgusting as it was.

**_Yeah , she's so sexy every man's fantasy  
A refugee like me back with the Fugees  
From a third world country  
I go back like when 'pac carried crates for  
Humpty humpty  
I need a whole club dizzy  
Why the CIA wanna watch us?  
Colombians and Haitians  
I ain't guilty, it's a musical transaction  
No more we do snatch ropes  
Refugees run the seas  
'Cause we own our own boats_**

"Isn't Hiei Mukuro's heir?"

"Doesn't everyone know that?" Yusuke countered.

"Dancers don't get much news from the outside world, and the guys who…invite us to join them don't exactly say much."

Yusuke grinned. "Except for 'oh yeah, oh yeah', right?"

Keiko blushed and resisted the urge to slap him with difficulty. "Don't be disgusting, please."

**_I'm on tonight, my hips don't lie  
And I'm starting to feel you boy  
Come on let's go, real slow  
Baby, like this is perfecto_**

"Sorry. Couldn't resist."

They had run out of things to talk about, and the time that Keiko dreaded most had come.

**_Oh, you know I'm on tonight  
_****_My hips don't lie  
And I'm starting to feel it's right  
The attraction, the tension  
Baby, like this is perfection_**

"I guess…we should get started, huh?"

Yusuke looked startled, but nodded. "I guess."

**_No fighting..._**

Keiko rose and crawled onto the bed, laid on her back, and closed her eyes. If she was lucky, it would be quick and wouldn't give enough time for her to have to get involved. If she wasn't lucky, this would drag on for the rest of the night and she would have aches in the strangest places tomorrow morning.

A warm hand touched her face and Keiko opened her eyes, shocked by the gentle contact. Yusuke looked down at her, solemn. "You okay?"

She could have told the truth. "Yeah," she lied, then closed her eyes again. "Could we please just get this over with?"

"You don't have to do this if you don't want. You can go back to your room and I'll just get Hiei's money back tomorrow."

It was a tantalizing, tempting offer, and Keiko ached to take it. Then she remembered Koenma's heartbroken expression when he thought of Ayame, and the longing tone in his voice when he spoke of her.

That image alone made up her mind. "No," she said, opening her eyes and meeting Yusuke's gaze squarely. His eyes searched her own, reading her thoughts as though she had written them out on paper for him. _I need the money. For Koenma and Ayame, if for nothing else._ "I'll stay."

"I'll be gentle, I promise."

The simple, kind statement made Keiko's heart fill until she felt like its contents would spill out the corners of her eyes. "Thank you," she breathed, and closed her eyes again, but this time feeling more at peace.

**_No fighting…_**

* * *

All right. Just so you know, NO LEMONS. No fruity stuff here, just possibly mentions. I'm too young to write real mature stuff. But review, please? Because this was exhausting to write. 


	2. How Do You Do

Chapter two. I hope you actually find this interesting. Oh, and Kuwabara _will_ make an appearance. It's just that…it can't quite happen yet. Don't get me wrong; I don't hate him or anything, I just need to keep him out of the way until I can get the plot set out.

**DISCLAIMER**: I do not own the song 'How Do You Do' by Cascada or Yu Yu Hakusho.

* * *

**Chapter 2. How Do You Do **

_Ow…my head hurts._

Yusuke woke up the next morning with a horrid hangover, making him clutch his head in pain. _What the hell did I drink last night?_ he asked himself. _I didn't get drunk…_

He remembered that girl…K…Keiko, coming into his room because Hiei had sent her, and talking to her, laughing with her, enjoying a conversation that had suddenly become awkward when she told him it was time for her to do what she had been paid to do.

After that, it was all just a blur from which various images emerged to test every single one of Yusuke's senses. In fact, here was one now.

_Smooth, creamy skin, so soft to the touch and remarkably unblemished for one who was no longer a virgin._

That was almost enough to make Yusuke's demon side leap out and start on the sleeping Keiko all over again. With difficulty, Yusuke reined in his carnal desires, groaning inwardly as another image resurfaced as he glanced at Keiko's peaceful, relaxed face. If he didn't hadn't known that he had some of the strongest mental shields in Demon World (courtesy of Hokushin's training), he'd say that Hiei was putting these thoughts into his mind with his Jagan eye.

_Lips that tasted deliciously sweet…the scent of strawberries… _

**_I see you comb your hair and gimme that grin.  
It's making me spin now, spinnin' within.  
Before I melt like snow, I say "Hello,  
How do you do!"  
_**

She was waking up now. Yusuke sat up and started pulling his clothes on while Keiko yawned and stretched.

"Good morning," she said pleasantly, and Yusuke wondered how she could be so casual after what had happened last night. But then again, most of the girls who had come into his room (there hadn't been that many) had left before he woke up.

"Morning," he grunted in a very Hiei-like fashion, standing up and swaying when his head throbbed. "Ow…"

Keiko giggled at the sight of him, sloppily dressed with his hair sticking out in every direction. Yusuke turned and glared.

"I have a hangover," he stated, as if that would answer all her questions.

It did. Keiko got up and began dressing. She noticed the surreptitious glances that Yusuke cast in her direction, but pretended she didn't notice, drawing her clothes on over her bare body without any embarrassment. After the third time that she'd woken up in a demon's room, she had realized that no one cared anymore whether she tried to hide herself or not.

_It's like we're already married or something,_ the thought occurred to her, and she blushed in spite of herself. _No, no, never._ A human and a demon could never be married. That was why Raizen had starved to death.

He had gone through with his promise, Keiko realized. The dancer's inner thighs didn't ache the way they usually did after spending a night with a demon. Yusuke had been gentle, stopping when she screamed out in fright or pain, taking care not to allow his fangs to dig into her skin. Keiko smiled to herself and pulled her shirt on.

**_I love the way you undress now, baby begin.  
Do your caress, honey, my heart's in a mess.  
I love your blue-eyed voice, like Tiny Tim shines through.  
How do you do!_**

"You want me to get you something for your hangover?"

Yusuke glanced at her in surprise. "Like what?"

Keiko shrugged. "Do demons drink coffee?"

"Not much. It's mostly water or…human blood."

Keiko giggled. "Have you ever _tried_ coffee?"

"Once. On my…eightieth birthday, I think it was. Freakish weather, hella cold. Kurama and Hiei tricked me into thinking that the coffee was hot chocolate. Hated it."

Keiko laughed even harder at the image. "Well, my friend Shizuru always gets hangovers after she drinks too much," she informed him. "And she's tried quite a few methods. I'm not sure if it'd work on a demon, but she says that drinking a lot of coffee and water helps."

Yusuke nodded. "Dunno where I'm gonna get the coffee, but I'll see about that. Thanks."

**_Well, here we are crackin' jokes in the corner of our mouths  
And I feel like I'm laughing in a dream.  
If I was young I could wait outside your school  
'Cause your face is like the cover of a magazine_**

Keiko stood awkwardly. "Uh…well, I guess I should get going, huh?"

Yusuke raised an eyebrow, a habit he'd gotten from being around Kurama too long. "Why?"

"Well, my job's done here, so I might as well…you know, go."

"Where?"

"You know that café on the floor below the pub? The dancers work there part-time as waitresses to earn some extra money sometimes." Keiko combed through her hair with her fingers and cursed how messy the dark strands were. "I'm supposed to be on cashier duty, and I can't be late. Well, I'll see you around."

She left without another word, leaving Yusuke to stare after her in some sort of hung-over daze.

_Smooth, creamy skin… _

"Shaddup," Raizen's heir snapped to no one in particular, burying his face in a pillow.

_Keiko's_ pillow.

_The scent of strawberries…_

"Aw, screw this!" Yusuke tossed the pillow clean off the bed and stalked out of the room. Gotta go find some coffee…

**_How do you do, the things that you do.  
No one I know could ever keep up with you.  
How do you do!  
Did it ever make sense to you to say bye,  
Bye bye?_**

"Keiko!" Botan ran up to the girl when she arrived back at her dressing room. The former Spirit Guide's eyes were wide with concern. "Are you all right?"

It was customary for dancers to be concerned about their fellows' welfare after coming back from an all-night visit with a demon. It wasn't a strange sight for a dancer to drag themselves backstage and collapse immediately, their clothes shredded and their skin lacerated and bloody. Botan fully expected Keiko to start crying right away about the pain and horror of the night.

But, surprisingly, Keiko's image seemed perfectly peaceful and serene even though it was early morning and everyone was grumpy. She seemed in a kind of happy euphoria, and Botan blinked. "Keiko? Are you all right?" she repeated her question, but in softer tones. Had her friend finally snapped?

"Unbelievable, Botan," Keiko finally murmured, turning her tawny eyes on her friend.

"Huh?" The bluette was taken aback. "Er, what'd you say?"

Keiko didn't pay any attention to her. "He seemed so familiar, though," she muttered dreamily. "I think…I think I've seen him before…"

"Oh, psh," Botan laughed. "Of _course_ you've seen demons before. They're everywhere."

"But this lord was different. He was so gentle…so kind to me…he treated me like a…a…" Keiko stopped herself and shook her head vigorously. "What am I talking about?"

The happiness was gone, leaving only business. "Botan, do you have the contraception pills?"

Taking the two tablets that Botan offered her, Keiko quickly swallowed them, then realized something. "Don't you have a shift at the café?" she asked Botan.

Botan's candy-colored eyes widened, and she gasped. "Oh, no! I totally forgot!"

"I'm supposed be down there in…" Keiko checked the clock on the wall. "Half an hour. Botan, hurry and get dressed. We need to go."

_**I see you in that chair with the perfect skin.  
Well how have you been, baby, livin' in sin?  
Hey, I gotta know, did you say "Hello,  
How do you do?"**_

On the flipside, Yusuke was stumping down to the café in a distinctly bad mood. Even after practically drowning himself in cold water, he couldn't get the headache to stop, let alone his thoughts of Keiko. He was on his way to the café now to see if he could fine some coffee and try out the dancer's method.

He practically mowed someone over at the end of the hall. Instead of apologizing, Yusuke snapped at them.

"Hey, watch where you're going, bastard!"

Then he took a closer look at who was sitting on the ground. "Oh, hello, Hiei. Didn't see you."

"I didn't think you would," Hiei snorted, getting up and dusting himself off. "Can you even _see_ straight this morning?"

"Considering the amount of alcohol he's drunk," Kurama joined the conversation, chuckling mildly, "I wouldn't bet on it."

Yusuke rolled his eyes, then groaned at the resulting pang it sent through his skull. "I'm going down to the café," he mumbled, almost incoherently. "Getting some coffee."

"I thought you hated coffee," Kurama pointed out as the three set off together.

"Keiko said drinking coffee would get rid of hangovers."

"Keiko?"

"That dancer who was in my room last night…which reminds me…" Yusuke stopped short, whipping around to glare at Hiei as best as he could without making his headache worse. "_You_ were the one who set us up, weren't you?"

Hiei smirked. "You didn't seem to have a problem with it."

"Still!" Yusuke didn't even know why he was arguing, since Hiei did have a point. Maybe it was just for the sake of arguing…

"It wasn't a big secret that you were interested in her," Kurama added, unable to resist the tease. "I suppose you liked the present, hm?"

"Speaking of presents, _you_ haven't given me a present."

"Well, even I don't have enough money to spend on hundreds of birthday presents," Kurama said dryly. "But I'll think of something, in due time."

**_Well, here we are spending time in the louder part of town  
And it feels like everything's surreal.  
When I get old I will wait outside your house  
'Cause your hands have got the power meant to heal._**

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yusuke asked, suspiciously. Hiei snorted.

"Kurama won't tell you anything more than he wants you to know. Stupid fox." He said the last part under his breath.

"Maybe I'll send Keiko to your rooms sometime as well," Kurama joked, watching Yusuke's eyes widen.

"Hey, don't copy me," Hiei growled. "I was the one who thought of it first."

"So did you have _fun_, Yusuke?" Kurama pressed, putting emphasis on the word 'fun'. Yusuke's cheeks reddened slightly.

"If I hadn't known that you'd lived most of your life in the Human World, I would've said that that comment was worthy of Yoko Kurama."

Kurama laughed. "Well, he's a part of me now, so I suppose it's only fitting."

"Stupid fox," Hiei muttered again.

_**How do you do, the things that you do.  
No one I know could ever keep up with you.  
How do you do!  
Did it ever make sense to you to say bye,  
Bye bye?**_

* * *

Has anyone noticed that I always end songfics with the last verse of the song? And this chapter is hecka short...

Oh well…

Kuwabara's up in the next chapter! Hurray! Just remember to REVIEW!


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